Pick a corner and paint

After work I rode down to the Maisonneuve and Girouard underpass area and found a good corner to paint on. This scene had an impressive tree growing out of the concrete-base of a sign pole. I managed to get perspective on the stop sign and still keep the white lettering and border clean (white = paper showing).

Insistent tree sign pole, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Similar spot, looking due south towards the underpass, you see traffic going to and from the Decarie highway. Cutting across is Maisonneuve in the background, and the used bike shop is in the upper right corner. 

Girouard underpass pylons, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Closer to the corner with Maisonneuve, looking due east, here is a view of the Legion building, which has caramel-brown bricks and red and green facade elements. The windows have iron gratings over top. 

Legion building side, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This painting called for a close-up of a red tow truck but it did not turn out quite right. It didn't help that the mechanic came out and drove the vehicle off while I was painting. 

Red tow truck study, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

To trouble-shoot I did another one of a black tow truck which looked cool, but in the painting it looks like a toy truck! I will practice these car profiles some more, it rarely goes well for me due to shoddy drawing skills. You may wonder how a painter can be such a lousy illustrator, and I often wonder the same thing!

Black tow truck study, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

Looking back: London Ontario, bus stop, rainbow wall, cows

I've probably posted some of these before, but still worth a mention as I look back on the London Ontario collection of paintings. This one shows a bus stop and yellow mail box, composed with a tree on the left. It was a clever composition and took a delicate touch to get the foggy glass effect, and yellow shadowing correct. 

Yellow mail box bus stop, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

At the time I was not aware of the symbolism of a rainbow flag, which likely refers to LGBT issues in this context. I just liked the colours, and everything else in London Ontario was grey and beige, especially in the Spring time when this was painted. These were all done around the year 2000 give or take. 

Rainbow wall, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

I rode my bike around town to make these paintings on location, although I used a backpack to carry the equipment including a small camping chair upon which I would sit unless there was a bench handy. So a lot of the paintings I did had a bench or ledge to sit on. It was not until the year 2020, when I did the Montreal Metro series that I began painting standing up and using my bike pack to hold the gear. 

Cows sitting in field, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press,

 

Looking back: London Ontario campus cool weather

Around the year 2000 I was at University of Western Ontario and often painted the campus. Here is a scene of the small observatory that would have been used to look at starts back in the day. Not sure if it was still functional at the time. 

Observatory, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

These smoke stacks were part of the campus power plant, the stadium field is seen in the foreground. This one was done some time before the winter if memory serves. It was one of my favorite paintings at the time. 

Smoke stacks stadium, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

I can tell the sun was going down from looking at the painting, judging by the amber glow, and yellow-orange tree tops. There was still snow on the ground. I was not shy about painting in the winter, some of my first location paintings ever were in the middle the cold winter of 1995. This one was probably around 2002. 

Middlesex college sundown winter, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

I seem to remember this being one of the last winters I spent there, it is more ambitious than some of the earlier paintings, even containing small figures. When I started location painting, I would select scenes that I knew I could paint. Over the years, I took more chances, challenges, and slowly learned new techniques from trial and error. 

Middlesex college birch tree, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press

Between the canal and aqueduct

Cote st Paul is a small neighborhood between the canal and aqueduct, bordered by auto route 15 and Monk Blvd. As I rode my bike around, there were some neat buildings here and there, including this dépanneur. You can see how well these small convenience stores are integrated with the housing. 

New CL dépanneur, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This gas station is at the corner of Woodland and Vérendrye Blvd, you see all the cars on Vérendrye which runs along side of the aqueduct. It was a nice place to stand, despite the din of the cars, there was a warm sun out today. 

Gas station traffic, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Lastly for the day, I did another dépanneur painting, this one of Raymond dépanneur, which is painted with a blue-cyan colour. Too bad the paper is so small, but I've run out of larger pieces for now. Its almost time to buy a new stack of paper at the shop. 

Raymond dépanneur, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Sundown on Cabot street

After painting at the Zen Factory location, I rode around the neighborhood a bit, its an odd mix of old single family houses, a few duplexes, in and amongst light industrial warehousing, auto shops, and equipment depots. This scene looks due northwest along Cabot street, the auto route 15 is just to my left, and you can see one of the bridge structures on the horizon. That building on the right has the "SCAN" mural on it, a tribute to a late graffiti writer of Montreal, I have painted that a few times before. 

Sundown on Cabot street, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Here is a pickup truck with a trailer and a long shadow, parked on Cabot street. It was one of those 'challenger scenes' which meant I had to try it. The main issue is getting the drawing and perspective correct, and judging the final values. I started with the triangular sidewalk shape on the right, then lined up the vehicle's angle and perspective with a faint paint outline. Then I filled in colour blocks making sure to leave the highlight areas blank paper. There is no white paint in watercolour so you have to leave paper showing. 

Pickup truck trailer long shadow, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

This auto shop specializes in large vehicles such as ambulances. In the background, there were some impressive trees, although one was clearly dead, seen on the left. To paint the big green tree I applied the sky first using a blue, green, orange fade (PB15, PG7, PO62), then while moist, I applied the tree colour using bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184) tinted with orange (PO62), dark green (PBk31) and black (PBk6) with brown overlay for branches (PY43 + PR102). It was quite fun to see the tree shape emerge from the sky in real time as I painted. 

Ambulance auto shop, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

In the background you see a teal warehouse with PJD graffiti on top, part of auto route 10, and a huge pile of dirt in the foreground being illuminated by the setting sun. The main trick with this one was to get the blueish shadow correct in the foreground, it took a heavy mix of burnt yellow ochre (PR102), indo blue (PB60) and raw sienna (PBr7) over-painted with burnt umber (PBr7) and black textures. It can dry exceedingly pale, so I had to paint the shadow about 1.5 values darker than needed so it could dry this way. 

Warehouse pile of dirt highway, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026 

Zen factory growth and graffiti

I've always enjoyed painting down at the so-called Zen Factory, its actually an old business that shut down ten years ago, and has since been degrading steadily and plastered with graffiti. This scene shows part of the front facade, with large trees growing, and my initials in pink graffiti letters. 

Zen factory growth magenta PJD, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Same spot, looking due north towards st Patrick street and the Lachine canal in the background. I keyed in on this pile of old asphalt and concrete with wild plants growing all around. It is a textural and organic location to paint. 

Pile of asphalt and concrete, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

Last scene from this location, just to the left of the pile of asphalt, you see some concrete dividers that sit next to the adjacent sidewalk, and a concrete cube. I applied a series of interlocking washes first, and then over-painted a variety of textural effect to create the wild growth, keeping the colours in the orange-tint, brown, yellow, chartreuse and olive range.  

Teal PJD concrete blocks, watercolour 5 x 7" cold press, September 2026

 

Looking back, Tadoussac Sauguenay river

Here is an old painting I did in Tadoussac, looking due north up the Saguenay river. Cold wind was blasting down the river valley, it was October. From this vantage point, looking south, there were whales jumping out of the water. They feed at the mouth of the Saguenay because the warm water mixes with the st Lawrence here, creating conditions for food to grow. I have always wanted to return here to do paintings, its a very rugged landscape.  

Tadoussac Sauguenay river, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, 2008